Instrument holder



Nov. 5, 1968 N. c. GRAEFF INSTRUMENT HOLDER Filed Sept. 27, 1966 United States Patent 3,409,143 INSTRUMENT HOLDER Norwood Claude Graelf, Harrisburg, Pa., assiguor to AMP Incorporated, Harrisburg, Pa. Filed Sept. 27, 1966, Ser. No. 582,392 Claims. (Cl. 211-59) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A holder is provided for retaining a surgical instrument or the like in position during shipping of the instruments and also for holding the instruments just prior to use. The holder comprises a pair of parallel elongated members which cooperate with the finger-receiving portions of the instrument handles and frictionally engage such portions. Various forms of resilient fingers are disclosed for extending from the parallel members to engage the instruments.

Summary of the invention The invention provides a holder for surgical instruments such as hemostats, forceps, and scissors. The holder is capable of retaining the instrument in position during shipment and is also designed for use by a nurse or surgeon to facilitate holding of the instruments in preparation for their use. Various numbers of instruments may be accommodated by the holder depending upon the size of holder employed.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a holder for surgical instruments or similar devices.

Another object of the present invention is to provide such a holder which permits compact packaging of the instruments during shipping.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a holder which is suitable for use by an operating room nurse or similar person for dispensing the instruments to the operating physician.

Other objects and attainments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which there are shown and described illustrative embodiments of the invention; it is to be understood, however, that these embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive nor limiting of the invention but are given for purpose of illustration in order that others skilled in the art may fully understand the invention and the principles thereof and the manner of applying it in practical use so that they may modify it in various forms, each as may be best suited to the conditions of a particular use.

In the drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a holder for surgical instruments or the like made in accordance with the teachings of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 1 and showing further details of the holder;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view similar to FIG- URE 2 and showing an instrument positioned on the holder; and

FIGURES 4 through 7 are cross-sectional views of various modified configurations of the holder.

There is shown in the drawings a holder 10 which is preferably of one piece construction and may be formed by molding or other manufacturing operations. The holder is preferably but not necessarily made of a plastic material thereby rendering the holder inexpensive to produce and thus the holder may be a throw away item after a single use. The holder comprises a pair of elongated members 12 which are arranged in substantially parallel relation. The members 12 are joined at their mid point by a strap member 14 which is made integral with the members 12. Although the strap 14 is preferably disposed at the mid point of the elongated members 12 it is to be understood that the strap may be otherwise located if so desired.

The members 12 have a central portion 16 of generally rectangular configuration and a slot 18 extends entirely through portions 16. The slot 18 is for the primary purpose of removing material from the central portion of the members 12, which removal of material provides for better molding techniques.

A plurality of resilient fingers 20 extend from the central portion 16 and are generally radially disposed therearound. The fingers 20 are preferably equally spaced about the portions 16 and are of appropriate length for receiving the handle portions 22 of a surgical instrument or the like. The fingers 20 are tapered inwardly towards their free ends to provide additional resiliency to the fin gers. As seen in FIGURE 3 the outside diameter of the members 12 is slightly greater than the inside diameters of the handles 22 of the instruments whereby the fingers 20 will be deflected to frictionally engage the said handles. Each of the fingers is capable of flexing independently with the majority of the flexing being concentrated adjacent the free ends of the fingers.

As seen in FIGURE 1 the inwardly directed fingers of the members 12 are provided with slots 24 to free the fingers from the strap 14 to thereby allow flexing of these fingers.

In the preferred embodiment shown in FIGURE 1 the strap 14 is disposed at the mid portion of the parallel members 12 with space being provided on the parallel members for a plurality of surgical instruments on each side of the strap. For example there may be five hemostats, forceps, or the like disposed on each side of the strap whereby the holder will accommodate ten such instruments to a package. The frictional force developed between the fingers 20 and the handles 22 is suflicient to hold the instruments in place during shipping but is loW enough so that the instruments may be readily removed from the holder during a surgical procedure for use by the surgeon.

In FIGURE 4 there is shown a first alternate cross-section for the members 12 and comprises a plurality of fingers 20a which are radially disposed about a central portion 16a, each finger being disposed at right angles to each adjacent finger.

In FIGURE 5 there is shown a second alternative embodiment and discloses a plurality of fingers 20b disposed at approximately 45 from each adjacent finger. This configuration will provide for higher retention forces between the fingers and the instrument handles when such is desired.

FIGURE 6 shows a further alternative embodiment and discloses a pair of arcuate fingers 20c disposed about a central portion 16c, the parts functioning in a manner similar to that above described. The configuration of FIG- URE 6 has particular applicability to instruments having handle portions of non-circular configuration. In particular an oval shaped handle portion would be readily received upon a holder having the cross-sectional configuration of that shown in FIGURE 6.

The alternative embodiment shown in FIGURE 7 is similar to that shown in FIGURE 4 except that the fingers 20d are arcuately formed to provide more resiliency to the fingers and to provide for easier loading of the instruments onto the holder. The central portion 16d of this alternative embodiment has a hollow center section 18d which serves a similar purpose as the slot 18 described in connection with FIGURES 1-3.

Each of the various embodiments may be provided with chamfered corners 26 on the ends of the resilient fingers to provide for lead-in of the handles onto the holder. Whether or not a chamfered corner is necessary de pends on the size relationship between the fingers and the instrument handles.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art and various apparently different modifications and embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only. The actual scope of the invention is intended to be defined in the following claims when viewed in their proper perspective against the prior art.

What is claimed is:

1. An article for holding a plurality of surgical instruments or similar devices comprising a pair of elongated members having their longitudinal axes disposed in substantially parallel relation, each said member having a plurality of resilient fingers extending outwardly therefrom and generally normal to said longitudinal axes, said fingers being adapted to engage a handle portion of said instruments, and strap means extending between said members for preventing opening or closing movement of said instruments, said strap means being secured to said elongated members approximately midway along said longitudinal axes thereof whereby said article is of H- shaped configuration.

2. An article as set forth in claim 1 wherein said fingers are tapered at their free ends.

3. An article as set forth in claim 1 wherein each said finger extends generally at right angles to each adjacent finger.

4. An article for holding a plurality of surgical instruments or similar devices comprising a pair of elongated members having their longitudinal axes disposed in substantially parallel relation, each said member having a central portion extending along the longitudinal axis thereof, said central portion having a slot therein for facilitating molding of said articles, a plurality of resilient fingers extending from said central portion, said fingers being regularly spaced about said central portion and extending at right angles to said longitudinal axis, and strap means extending between said members at right angles to said longitudinal axes and integral with said central portions for maintaining said members in said parallel relation.

5. An article as set forth in claim 4 wherein each said finger is disposed at right angles to each adjacent finger.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 930,630 8/1909 Stewart 21159 X 2,555,531 6/1951 Boord 211--59 X 2,906,410 9/1959 McGuire 21159 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,168,204 4/ 1964 Germany.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner. 

